2011 Year in Review: Hartland Law and Order

From a Hartland school administrator successfully challenging a misdemeanor ticket that alleged she knew about underage drinking at her child's graduation party to a high-speed chase that ended in Hartland, several high-profile criminal cases generated attention in 2011.

• The most written about and widely read story in this category chronicled the case against Tracey Sahouri, which was after her defense attorney conducted an investigation that he said and prosecutors they could not meet their burden of proof.
• that started in Oakland County and ended in a Hartland neighborhood following a domestic dispute also stood out. The driver, Stephen Wethy, later pleaded to no contest to multiple felonies and was sentenced to 5 to 20 years in prison, according to state records.
• News broke in January that the Livingston County Sheriff's Department would who later during the year pleaded guilty to robbing the TCF Bank in Hartland in 2007. Grand Blanc resident Keith A. Williams was while Burton resident Jason Patterson .
• Investigations in another big case led , who is accused of breaking into the Red Olive Restaurant in August and stealing an undisclosed amount of money. In addition, police have said he also is a suspect in a in Hartland in the fall of 2010 and as many as 12 others across the state. The next court date in the pending case is Jan. 13, according to court records.
• Police weren't the only ones taking on criminals. A Hartland man helped them who later were sentenced for stealing a 14-foot stuffed alligator from the man's Deerfield Township pole barn in June. They were arrested after Jeremy Swanson followed them to a nearby mudbogging event where they had strapped the gator to a pickup truck. Ultimately, none of the men received sentences that lasted longer than about a year, which who fears the sentences won't deter them from future crimes.